9/11 Victims Seek Claim on Seized Bitcoins from Chinese-Iranian Mining Pool

Victims and families of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have formally expressed interest in bitcoins previously seized by the U.S. government from the LuBian.com mining pool. This filing references an ongoing lawsuit that alleges LuBian was operated by the Iran and China Investment Development Group, leading the claimants to argue that LuBian qualifies as an agency or instrumentality of Iran.

The group, known as the Chairnoff Claimants, holds judgments totaling over $671 million against the Islamic Republic of Iran for its involvement in sponsoring the 9/11 attacks. They are asserting a claim to the 127,271 BTC seized by the U.S. from LuBian. While the U.S. government has described LuBian as a Chinese BTC mining operation, it acknowledges that the operation had at least one facility in Iran.

Additionally, the U.S. government claims that the seized funds are not solely from LuBian but also include assets associated with Chen Zhi and Prince Holding Group, as well as transfers from centralized exchanges. Other groups of claimants, including additional 9/11 victims, also believe they have a legitimate claim to this BTC as victims of state-sponsored terrorism.